When do you use this process?
If an existing Supreme Court family order finally resolved a claim and a party now seeks to change, suspend or terminate it, the proceeding is generally an “application” under the Supreme Court Family Rules. You do not normally start a brand-new case with another Form F3 merely because you want a final order changed.
How the October 2026 serve-first procedure applies
- Prepare the Form F31 Notice of Application and the evidence supporting the requested change.
- Serve the unfiled F31 and required Rule 10-6 application materials.
- Because the application seeks to change, suspend or terminate a final order, personal service is required under Rule 6-3 unless the court orders otherwise.
- The application respondent has 14 calendar days after service to serve Form F32 and any supporting affidavits.
- After the response is served or the response period expires, the applicant can proceed with the current Rule 10-6 scheduling and filing steps, including Form F31.1 where relevant.
Do you need a JCC first?
Rule 7-1 expressly lists an application to change, suspend or terminate a final order as an exception to the usual requirement that a JCC be conducted before a notice of application and supporting affidavit are served. That does not mean a JCC or another conference can never occur later; it means the pre-application JCC restriction does not bar this category.
Consent changes use a different streamlined route
If all required parties agree to the change, Rule 10-7 provides a consent process using Form F29, a draft Form F33 consent order and evidence of consent, together with any other required materials. This may avoid a contested hearing, but the terms still need to be drafted precisely and accepted through the court process.
What evidence is needed?
The substantive legal test depends on what is being changed—parenting, child support, spousal support, property-related relief or another order. The procedure does not itself establish that a change should be granted. The applicant still needs admissible evidence that meets the legal test governing that particular type of order.
Common mistakes
- Using a new Notice of Family Claim instead of the Part 10 application route.
- Using the ordinary 5-business-day F32 response period instead of the 14-calendar-day period that applies to this category.
- Serving by an ordinary method when personal service is required.
- Assuming a change in circumstances automatically meets the substantive test for changing the specific order.
- Failing to identify the existing final order clearly in the application and proposed order.
Cost planning
A change application can range from a narrow support adjustment to a major contested parenting or spousal-support proceeding. A useful limited-scope retainer may focus on the threshold legal test, evidence, drafting the F31, reviewing the F32 response, or preparing for the hearing. If the change is truly agreed, careful consent drafting may be much less expensive than litigating language that could have been settled.